


Before You

by RanchDeChloe



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Dancing, M/M, Meeting the ex, jeff goldblum knock off warning?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2019-07-06 17:55:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15891096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RanchDeChloe/pseuds/RanchDeChloe
Summary: Connor gets the chance to meet Hank's ex. He's a whole lot of something.---I sawthis artthat made a goof about one of Hank's exes being just straight up jeff goldblum and I couldn't help but write this.





	Before You

Hank’s pulse is up, he's visibly sweating and he's terribly nervous as he approaches Connor at his desk.

“You gotta go now, take the car, I’ll get a taxi home” He insists, turning off Connor’s terminal.

Connor has seen Hank look less frightened under live gunfire.

“What’s wrong, Lieutenant?”

Hank puts his hands on the back of Connor’s chair and starts activity pushing him towards the entrance to the station, “Don’t argue with me Connor, for once in your short life please just listen to me”, His voice is alarmingly quiet for the stress he is displaying. 

There is an squeak and a curse as Connor puts muscle behind putting his feet down, halting the impromptu attempted exit and causing Hank to stumble. 

“You are behaving erratically Lieutenant And-“

“Heeeeennnnnnnnrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyy”

Hank lets of an exasperated sigh, letting go of the chair and turning around. Connor Wheels around to look at the owner of the new voice, face recognition scan introducing him as Special Agent Dr. Paul Bloomsgold.

He has a sparkling career record with recent success studying the android mind in relation to forensic psychiatry. 

He is alerted by the scan that Markus has mentioned inviting him to town to work on a project but Connor filed the information as unimportant and effectively forgot about it. 

He is wearing very expensive cologne, thick glasses that are uncommon in the age of android operated LASIK, and a shocking amount of rings for a professional.

Connor blinks as he processes the fact that he is hugging Hank.

Hank pats his back, easing the agent out of the hug.

Connor notes that he’s taller than Hank. Not many people are taller than Connor. Connor feels a pang of being some how deficient. 

“Henry darling its been eons-“

“It’s Hank, you know that.”

“Hank, of course, you must forgive me” The agent is very familiar and touches Hank’s cheek and winks at him before breezing by him right up to Connor, still sitting stiffly in the misplaced office chair. Connor feels strongly exposed in awkward situation. The stranger doesn’t seem awkward at all.

“And you? You are just the cutest little tiny toaster I’ve ever seen, you beautiful Galatea, Hank, who is this?”

Usually comments that compare him to an object are meant to be cruel or diminutive but Connor is unnerved by how clearly this man is flirting with him.

“Connor, this is Paul, he used to work with the department years ago, he’s an old friend. Paul, this is my Partner, Connor.”

“Connor, model number RK800 #313 248 317-52” Connor offers, suddenly wanting to feel more important. It’s an irrational need but he feels better for having blurted his full designation. 

Paul wags a finger at him as he smiles, “I thought I knew that face, I’ve read all about you, you are a marvel, I can see why they made the following model a copy of you, but then again, the reproductions pale compared to a masterwork”. He reaches out and Connor assumes it for a handshake till Paul takes it and kisses his knuckles. 

“Hank?” Connor peeps, he can’t help the blip of static that pops into his voice, his own stress showing..

Hank is red in the face and already rubbing his eyes, “Jesus Christ, Paul, lay off the kid, he doesn’t need your whole…. everything”.

“Oh relax Hank, I’m just being friendly”.

“Paul!” Hanks voice is all warning.

“Unless” the agent’s smile becomes a smirk “Oh unless you don’t want me being sweet on your partner because he’s your **partner** “.

Hank makes an aggravated noise. Connor notes that his file did say the special agent was very astute.

“Hank you dog, you bloodhound, no one can blame you” Paul chuckles warmly and nudges Hank. Hank is no longer just blushing, he's gone splotchy. 

Paul reaches over to put his hands on Connor’s cheeks but Connor is too quick and backs up a few inches in the office chair. Paul is left bringing his hands together, gesturing at him. “Oh Connor, we have so much to discuss, I’m not leaving Detroit without you buying me a small collection of fine drinks, I’m sure Hank has already taken you to all the Jazz clubs I would approve of”

Connor just looks to Hank for rescue. Hank is of no help, looking like he wants to suddenly be swallowed up by a sinkhole, mumbling “Ah jeez,Paul”

—-

At the first opportunity (In the car, on the way home, at the first red light) Connor addresses the well dressed and very tall elephant in the room. 

“Why is he like that?” 

“Paul is wonderful at figuring people out. A great psychiatrist that has every police department in the country is tripping over their dicks to pay him for his time. He’s great at what he does but just… he’s a lot.”

Connor stares at him, silently informing Hank to keep talking.

“Just so you know… Paul and I sort of dated… not like serious or anything, but he was… he was pretty hard to ignore when he worked here and we had fun before duty called him out to Seattle. It was years ago, I was new to the force, before I even met my ex-wife and I got swept up in his crazy charismatic bullshit. Too be fair, I did warn you when I saw him that you should have run”.

“I should have listened, because we only have 2 hours to go home and get ready for an evening out with your sort of ex, when did we even agree to do that?”

“Listen, he is as smooth as they come, we didn’t agree to anything he’s just…. tricky, I’ll call him and cancel. He doesn’t know where we live, we can bunker down in the house till he flies home”.

“No” Connor says firmly, surprising himself a little, “we should go”.

“It’s no skin off my nose if we don’t go. We were never that close, it was a fling, really, I don’t need to hang out with a guy I haven’t seen in over a decade”.

Connor’s LED cycles a flickering yellow pulse “It would be illuminating to see what kind of person you had romantic interest in before meeting me”.

“You text Maureen behind my back all the time”.

“Because your ex-wife is a very kind and warm woman who is very happy for us”.

“Because she likes being a snoop and she loves that you willingly give her dirt on me”.

“Texting her pictures you and sumo sleeping on the couch is not ‘dirt’, she signed Sumo’s adoption papers, its only fair that she is regularly alerted about his well being”.

Hank grips the steering wheel tighter, raising his voice a little, “This is exactly why you don’t need to meet any more of my exes”.

“You are afraid I’ll send photos of Sumo to him?”

Hank shoots him a look that would crumple lesser men. Connor is used to it.

“You are afraid it will be awkward and you will feel like the odd-man-out, like we’ll talk about you like you aren’t there”.

Hank huffs, pulling the car into the driveway of their home.

Connor tries to put him at ease “If anything I will be the odd man out because the two of you have a history, and I will be the only android and unable to participate in social drinking”.

Hank is in a mood as he slams the car door and stomps inside, pausing to pet sumo behind the ears before heading to the bathroom to shower. Connor lets Hank pout and lets Sumo out before fixing the dog’s dinner; listening for the shower to click off so he can beat Hank to the bedroom. 

Connor begins examining their shared closet, “What would you like to wear tonight, Hank?”

“Fuck if I know, whatever is clean I guess? I don’t have to impress him.”

“More importantly what should I wear?”

Hank stares at him, “You have never asked me what you should wear before, are you broken? Did your subscription to Vogue lapse?”

“I have never gone out for drinks with one of your casual flings before, I can’t exactly download an etiquette package on this, I want to look better than him” He admits.

Hank chuckles and Connor feels lighter, “Holy shit you jealous little bastard”.

“I’m not jealous, I simply want him to be aware that I am superior to him and that you wouldn’t be interested in rekindling anything. If we are to be social with him I want you to be proud of me.”

Hank hugs him from behind, clean water droplets soaking into his jacket, “I’m not leaving you for some weirdo in goofy glasses and I’m always proud of you, Connor.”

“Even though he’s very tall and I was built to average male height?”

“He’s too tall, absolutely too tall, no one has a right to be that lanky, its disgusting” Hank assures him.

Connor leans back into him, closing his eyes and focusing on a quick scan, dialing into Hank’s breathing and heartbeat, “Thank you, really”.

Hank nuzzles his shoulder and Connor smiles, “You know Hank, tonight might be fun, I want to hear personal stories of your early career that aren’t in your file”.

“I hate to disappoint you but knowing Paul, he’ll go on long pointless tangents that have nothing to do with anything and you’ll be terribly charmed”.

“I deeply doubt that, Paul is very off putting”.

Hank laughs, “Yeah well I thought the same thing about 6 hours before ending up in his bed so. lets see how things go”.

—-

Connor is putting on the show of his life.

He has the sleeves of his dress shirt pushed up, a few buttons casually undone at his throat, his hair is artfully askew (an unused style in his programing for appearing less threatening, Hank told him its an upgrade), he allows for a light blush on his synthetic skin, his social relations program is constantly running for the perfectly balanced smile and warm laughter. He knows he is charming. 

He embraces his vanity and Connor feels picture perfect and like he's holding his own against the slick mother fucker on the other side of the booth.Any budding jealousy is squashed under the boot of knowing that he himself is a catch.

Hank sits next to him and has his elbows on the table and is focused on defeating the punch-bowl sized margarita in front of him.

Connor reaches over and slips a finger into Hank’s oversized drink and pops it into his mouth. 

Tequila, corn syrup, synthetic flavoring, water, yellow #5, blue#2, etc, etc.

Neither human at the table blinks an eye at Connor’s behavior.

Paul is far too calm and comfortable in this situation, gesturing with his cocktail, “anyway, Henry was the picture of the noble hero, carrying her out of the bar, and I was absolutely smitten, I knew right then that I needed this beautiful blue-eyed blue-collar Adonis who was always saving the helpless even when not getting paid to do so. Not that you aren’t the picture of masculine virility now, Hank, You look regal with silver hair, but Connor you should have seen his thighs back then, made a man just want to crack walnuts with those things”. 

Connor has seen many pictures of Hank at that age, he can reconstruct the images of the story. Paul is right, Hank is irresistible.

Hank shakes his head, “You also needed the affection of 30% of the DPD, tell Connor how I caught you and Ben in the bathroom of the that drug bust, you weren’t even involved in that case, you just showed up because of your untamed uniform kink”.

“Well you are Detroit’s finest and unlike this exquisite silicone and steel St. Sebastian, I am a mere mortal, a slave to my base wants” Paul laughs, “But you were special Hank”.

Hank rolls his eyes.

Paul lightly taps Connor’s foot with his own, nodding at Hank, “And he obviously still has a big soft spot for big brown eyes, this one hasn’t changed at all”.

Connor tracks Hank’s pulse and core temperature creeping up.

“Tell me Connor, baby, how did this silver fox sweep you off your feet?”

Paul shows every social cue of being completely and desperately interested and Connor finds it a little unnerving.

“Well, I was assigned to Hank as a partner”.

“And?” Paul waits.

“And we formed a bond while working together and now we are a couple”.

“I know they never gave the later RK models the programing that could lead to a future Shakespeare, didn’t want you all getting fancy and off topic in police reports, but you gotta give me a little more than that, sweetheart, this is Hank fucking Anderson and he deserves poetry, Hank, please, tell your beloved you deserve poetry”.

“Christ Paul, we got together when the world was falling to shit, we made each other better and it just clicked. Kid’s being polite and editing out the dark parts that are best left in the past”.

“I did die for him” Connor winces. He can’t help it, Hank does deserve nice things. “It was temporary but still, I was happy to do it, I needed him safe”.

Hank grimaces at the memory but still reaches over and pulls Connor close by the neck, kissing his temple.

Paul waxes poetic, meeting Hank’s eyes, “I’ll admit I was not only not surprised but filled with pride when I heard the role you had to play when the whole world got turned on it axis, all very romantic, I’ve held in my arms one of the men that shepherded new sentient life to freedom and I mean” He gestures at the both of them, “For you two end up together… I mean, wow, storybook, really”.

Paul leans in, conspiratorial, “Not to mention I doubt age has done much to dampen that famous Anderson libido, I can only imagine that having an android partner unfettered by frail human-“ 

Hank’s stress spikes, Connor cuts in to smooth things out, “Please, Paul, don’t tease him, let him finish his drink while you dance with me”. 

“Ah! Hank, you lucky boy, you got a sweet thing going with this one”. He offers his hand Connor gets up, leading him to the dance floor.

Hank’s phone starts to buzz.

Texts from Connor start to pour in.

 _I can tell him I’m tired if you are ready to go_.

_Are you ok? He seems a little forward but nice, if you are uncomfortable I’m willing to punch him for your honor_

Anyone watching would never tell that Connor was texting. He seems totally focused on dancing, both he and his partner are graceful in a way that looks like they have been dancing together for years. Hank admits its not an unattractive show. 

He texts back, _No, everything is fine. Paul’s much easier to appreciate from a distance anyway, enjoy the music_.

He adds after a few long sips of his drink and a especially lovely turn around the floor, he adds another message _You look good out there_.

 _It would be polite for us to finish this song first but then please, cut in_ Connor informs him. 

Hank snorts at his phone, _you’ll have more fun with him, I don’t dance as much as sway in vaguely the same time as the music_. 

Paul dips Connor, all very dramatic and a fair amount of the bar is watching _Come cut in and sway with me, Hank_.

Hank pockets his phone and lets 2 more songs pass till a slow one comes on and he finds his courage, cutting in and taking Connor’s hand, leading them in what can very generously be described as a wobbling hug of a dance.

Connor beams at Hank, “Thank you”.

Hank huffs, “Well you didn’t give me a lot of choice”.

“Still, I’m glad you want to dance with me” Connor all but melts into his embrace, setting his head on Hank’s shoulder, letting Hank do all the swaying.

Paul is gracious and quickly finds a pretty blond (who had been impressed by the previous performance) to dance with. No hurt feelings. 

It’s quite some time till the three of them migrate back to their abandoned drinks. Paul announces he is off to join his new young blond at his hotel room before kissing both Hank and Connor on both cheeks. Its really far too many kisses. Hank doesn’t seem too phased and even smiles.

Paul smirks, elbowing Connor, “Take care of Henry, he’s the ride of a lifetime and deserves the Italian sports car that is your youthful lithe battery-powered possibly-vibrating-if-you-got-that-update frame. Keep in touch, Did you get my card? If not I’ll make sure Mark passes you my number”.

Both Hank and Connor snort at the same time as it dawns on them that Paul is on nickname basis with android Moses.

—-

In bed that night Hank catches Connor’s LED blink in a way that says he’s up to something. He shifts, getting a better look at him.

“Spill it, Connor”.

“Paul messaged me, wanted to make sure we got home safe”.

“And” “And I’ve been told to ask you about the that set of handcuffs and the Atheneum Hotel”.

“Tell Paul he can fuck himself and block his number, I told you, no more texting my exes” Hank grouses, rolling over and trying to ignore Connor’s laughter.

**Author's Note:**

> for the jerries.
> 
> absolutely not for david cage.


End file.
